inglês para português Direito/Patentes Direito (geral) Criminal court

In criminal cases, ‘good character’ was often used to describe a defendant who had no criminal convictions or cautions, although this concept of good character could be undermined where there was evidence of other ‘reprehensible behaviour’ on their part, such as previous criminal conduct (other than that which the defendant was on trial for) which was never charged, or other poor behaviour. (Reprehensible behaviour is part of the legal definition of Bad Character.)
Good character is now broken down into the following categories:
Absolute good character - a person with no previous convictions or cautions and no ‘reprehensible behaviour’ alleged, admitted or proved against them;
Effective good character - where a defendant has old, minor and irrelevant previous convictions or cautions.